I graduated from high school in 1981 and, as a late boomer, I was a little bit fed up with being expected and actively encouraged to idolize the older boomers for their "specialness" as depicted in this movie. A lot of them had rocky relationships with their parents because they were raised to be self-centered and entitled, with the result that they turned on their parents and disprespected them for having to grow up in the Depression and WWII, as if their parents were somehow to blame for those events. Many of these early boomers believed that their generation was superior to any other generation in history, and this movie, intentionally or not, exposes them for what jackasses they were.
Personally, I got awfully tired of hearing about the sainted Kennedys, the wonderful hippies, and all those musical performers of the 1960s who supposedly transcended the entertainment world to become spiritual demigods. These characters are raging at the painful reality that they're really just pretty ordinary, after all.
I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!
Hewwo.
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bpollen
7 years ago
There are therapists who can help with anger and hatred toward others. Your insurance will cover a few sessions. You're welcome.
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liscarkat (16476)
7 years ago
tmaj48 you are so right-on. Many people who were teenagers and young adults in the '60s think they are special in some way because of the overrated pop music of their time, the Kennedy mythology, etc. It's nothing but a load of delusional hooey. I'm only a couple of years younger, yet it's tiresome as hell for me to be around a group of these fools.
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MissMargoChanning (6630)
7 years ago
"tmaj48 you are so right-on. Many people who were teenagers and young adults in the '60s think they are special in some way because of the overrated pop music of their time, the Kennedy mythology, etc. It's nothing but a load of delusional hooey. I'm only a couple of years younger, yet it's tiresome as hell for me to be around a group of these fools."
WOW! As one of these fools who was born in 1955, I had no idea of just how special I was supposed to feel!
There isn't much that I can do about the way I feel about that "overrated pop music of my time" ...
However, I respect the way you feel about the music you enjoy, no matter how overrated that may be to others. That is a matter of taste and opinion so I never judge that sort of thing.
None of us should apologize for the generation we were born into. As far as I can see, we are all special and unique and we all contribute to the human condition.
Do I like this movie? YES!
Why? I can relate to these people.
I can't apologize for that.
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liscarkat (16476)
7 years ago
WOW! Do I like this movie? NO! And I have given my reasons, which you don't like, and for which you have taken me to task. I am certain that you can relate to these people. I haven't asked you to apologize for anything. Artistic merit is more than just a matter of opinion, and absolutely can and should be judged. The music I enjoy, which I will not discuss here, has never been overrated, while some other forms of music have been. We are all unique, but we are not all special, and the human condition could do without the contributions of some.
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Gd5150 (10991)
6 years ago
Amen. Most overrated worthless decade in 100 years. Growing up being told how great the 60s were for the last 50 years has been intolerable. “Everyone was as Woodstock”. “Everyone protested nam”. “Everyone road around in a VW bus for 10 years smoking grass and listening to Janis Joplin”. Except like 3 people actually did.
My parents were in their 20s living the SF Bay Area during the 60s. They were not part of any of the idolized leftwing protesting crap we’ve had shoved down our throats for 50 years. Nor were any of their friends. The protesting crap was a small group of losers in SF. These people have been running the show now for 50 years and we’ve all been lead to believe they were the majority. They weren’t. They were just another blm/occupy wallstreet/antifa without the professional organization and funding those groups have today.
“Everyone hated Nixon”. Except his re-election was the 2nd biggest landslide of the 20th century taking over 60% of the vote.
50 years of these idiots running the media and education industry telling us how important they were. Just a bunch of ignorant insecure self absorbed losers who accomplished squat.
Spending a month in history class on the Vietnam war, and 3 day’s on WW2. Pathetic. One changed the world. One was completely irrelevant.
That said. The Big Chill is a great movie nonetheless. Pure writing, great music, and seems pretty believable. Better than all the corporate comic book garbage were subjected to today.
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snepts (11123)
6 years ago
I really don't get where you are coming from.
I believe The Best Years Of Our Lives was about the aftermath of WW2.
Were these people "special?" In both instances, filmmakers were doing something significant to them, telling a story perhaps close to their own experience. I don't recall the characters in TBC being too full of themselves, calling themselves better than the previous generation.
Mostly I just think it's become popular to pile on the free-thinkers of the late 60s. It's become a bully sport where bullies hope to find like-minded people to share being ugly and belligerent.
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